Former Hunter High School pupil Gavin set to appear at two of Scotland's top literary events

East Kilbride-schooled author Gavin Bell will have the write stuff next month.

Gavin (35), who attended Canberra Primary and Hunter High School and previously worked at Centre 1, was writing as Mason Cross when he had his first novel The Killing Season published to rave reviews from critics and fans of the crime genre alike.

Now he’s set to give talks at a couple of Scotland’s top literary events, to discuss his work on the book, which was released earlier this year.

The Killing Season is a terrifying thriller set in the US in which Carter Blake, the hero of the series, tracks down a psychotic hit-man.

Gavin, who lives in Cambuslang, said: “I’ve got a couple of festivals coming up, with the Edinburgh Book Festival on August 21, and I’m also doing Bloody Scotland in Stirling on August 20.

“I’m really enjoying going around and talking about it, and meeting people who have read the book that aren’t friends or family - I still find that really strange.

“I was down in Bristol for their crime festival in May and got the chance to meet some of the bigger crime-writing names, as well as John Gordon Sinclair, who has had a couple of books published.

“Afterwards he joked with me that I was the only one on the panel he could understand! He ended up buying my book and tweeting about it.”

Publishers Orion have been delighted with the response to the book, with Gavin - who studied English at the University of Stirling and currently works in IT in the voluntary sector - delighted to join their stable.

Gavin, who lives in Drumsagard with his wife Laura and children Ava, Scarlett and Oliver, started writing the book in early 2010, and has been delighted by the early response to the hardback publication of his novel, as well as the large paperback. The smaller paperback edition is due next year.

Gavin said: “The reviews have been really good - I’ve had one two-star review on Amazon, and the guy said it just wasn’t to his taste, but aside from that one, all the blogs and paper reviews have been really, really good.”

With the success surrounding The Killing Season, Gavin is now putting the finishing touches to its sequel, The Samaritan, which is on course to be released next spring.

He said: “The sequel is now pretty much complete too. I got a two-book deal with Orion and I had to turn around the second book very sharply to get it ready, and had to make sure that I got the words down and the book was in reasonable shape for the deadline.

“We’ll see how it goes, and hopefully I can get a third one too. You learn a bit about the hero’s background in the first book, and find out a bit more in the second, so there’s things I’d like to develop more in the future, where things can come to a head.

“I was in touch with the publisher last month to see how it was going, and it’s still early days. It’s hard to tell from the sales just now, but it’s when it’s published in trade paperback next year that we’ll really see. Hopefully, that will be in supermarkets.”

He added: “I’ve had people getting in touch from all over the world - I’ve had a couple of emails from a guy in Australia, and it’s on sale in other parts of the world, like Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

“It’s going to be coming out in America in February, as I’ve now got an American publisher, so it’s all very exciting.”